The increasing demand for a reduction in size of electrical connectors dictates a search for a miniature insulation displacement contact that can be inexpensively manufactured while concomitantly possessing the desirable characteristics of high strength and resiliency.
Two proposed types of miniature insulation displacement contacts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,286 issued to Brown et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,794 issued to Lucius. Both of these proposed contacts teach the application of indents or embossments to upstanding insulation piercing jaw members to strain harden the jaw members to increase their rigidity and strength in order to prevent termination induced buckling and bending deformation of the jaw members. The application of indents or embossments to the insulation piercing jaw members increases the manufacturing complexity and cost of each contact and by increasing the rigidity of the jaw members the indents or embossments necessarily decrease the resiliency of the insulation displacement jaw members; resilient insulation displacement jaw members being desirable to insure that a terminated conductor remains in electrical and mechanical contact with the insulation displacement jaws in the face of varying environmental stresses experienced by the contact during use, such as vibrational forces and temperature cycles.
The contacts suggested by Brown et al. and Lucius also require the application of lateral support to the piercing jaw members during termination of a conductor therebetween to prevent damage to the contact, Brown et al. requiring termination within a connector housing channel and Lucius requiring the use of special termination tooling as seen in FIG. 3 of Lucius.
Both Brown et al. and Lucius teach the use of a contact having a flat cantilever portion for connecting the insulation displacement portion of each contact with the terminal engagement portion of each contact. Such a flat cantilever connecting portion is not sufficiently strong to insure that axial deformation of the contact during termination and/or insertion of the contact within a connector housing is prevented. Thus, termination of such a contact or post termination insertion of such a contact into a connector housing can result in axial deformation of the contact about the planar cantilever portion of the contact.
Although different types of miniature contacts have been proposed, none disclose or suggest a miniature contact that has sufficient strength to successfully pierce the insulation of a conductor while retaining substantially all of its resiliency to effect reliable termination of a conductor therein, that can be terminated outside of a connector housing without the use of special tooling to provide lateral support, that effectively resists axial deformation during termination and insertion of the contact within a connector housing, and that presents a gradually tapering profile to facilitate insertion of a contact within the housing.